


It's Gonna Be Okay

by dragonq666



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Green Arrow and the Canaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eating Disorders, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26172565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonq666/pseuds/dragonq666
Summary: Dinah understands something about Laurel, something that is not good.
Relationships: Dinah Drake/Earth-2 Laurel Lance
Kudos: 27





	It's Gonna Be Okay

Laurel had been living with Dinah for a month now, and everything was almost normal: she wasn't such a bad roommate, just left mugs of half-finished coffee everywhere. But this "almost"...

  
Dinah was often busy at the bar - it was her job — and Laurel was upstairs. She did not see her for some part of the day, and when she returned tired to the apartment, there was always a cooked dinner waiting for her. This was nice, since Dinah herself did not particularly like to do cooking, surviving on takeaways. She was grateful to Laurel, but... This is where "almost" comes into play.

  
Dinah didn't see Laurel eating anything. In the morning she only drank coffee, in the evening she sat next to Dinah at the table, in her favorite way teasing her, again drinking coffee... and she didn't eat anything. Of course, Dinah didn't see her the rest of the time, but it seemed to her that even then nothing changed.

  
Once, Dinah decided to ask Laurel why:

  
"I've already eaten, I'm not hungry," the woman replied, shrugging and taking another sip from her mug.

  
Dinah had always seen Laurel as thin, but lately she'd started looking at her more closely and realized how _painfully_ thin she really was. Well-defined cheekbones; a sharp chin; wrists so thin that they seemed to break if you touched them.

  
And it kind of wasn't that Laurel didn't love the food. Dinah was sure of the opposite, because her roommate not only cooked, but also liked to go to the grocery store; she could stand for hours at the shelves and look at the composition of one or another, for example, cheese or a packet of cookies.

  
When Dinah collated all the facts, she was struck by the realization, but just in case, she got on the Internet and only made sure of her guesses. Dinah was very worried about Laurel, and hell, she was more worried about Laurel than anything else in the world. And so she decided to talk to her about it.

  
She sat there spooning her cheesecake, trying to summon up the courage to start a conversation, but Laurel did it first.

  
"Is everything all right, D? What is it?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

  
Dinah hesitated. But she saw no other way out: Laurel could have _died_.

  
"Laurel... When did it all start?"

  
"What is it?" the woman looked at her blankly.

  
"When did you stop eating normally?"

  
Dinah realized that she had hit the target. Laurel's body tensed visibly, and she clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white.

  
"Why are you asking me this?"

  
"Because I'm worried about you! It's anorexia, isn't it?"

  
Laurel shifted her shoulders, relaxing, and sighed wearily.

  
"I was diagnosed when I was fourteen, when I was in foster family. They immediately refused me, and others did not want to take a sick child. They didn't want any problems."

  
"But why -" Dinah began.

  
"It's not hard to understand," Laurel said with a sad grin. "On my birthday, my dad went to get a cake and was hit by a car. I blamed myself. Myself and food. I had to stay in hospitals a few times, but then I got tired of it, I ran away from the shelter and started living on the streets."

  
"Laur..."

  
Laurel took a deep breath, running her fingers through her hair. She had been silent for too long, not telling anyone about it, not trusting the people around her. But Dinah... Dinah was different. Laurel believed her implicitly, which surprised her.

  
"I don't know what to do," she whispered. "My father is alive, but this... it's still with me. I'm too used to living like this. What should I do, D?"

  
Dinah got up from the table, walked around it, and knelt next to Laurel, taking her hands gently in hers.

  
"I'll help you if you let me."

  
Laurel nodded, then leaned forward, putting her arms around Dinah and nuzzling her neck.

  
"It will be alright, pretty bird. Everything will be alright."


End file.
